Tun Dr Mahathir enjoys the freedom of speech in Internet

It is not a secret that Malaysia has a long history of state censorship and tight media controls. All the local major newspapers, television and radio channels, of all languages, have censored and restrictive reporting. As a result, all the information from these formal channels are pretty uniformed. Many happenings were not even reported due to particular reasons.

As a result, more and more Malaysian opt to get more information and 2nd opinions from the foreign media and the Internet, which are beyond the control and censorship of the Government.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had made a wise and correct decision for pledging not to censor the Internet when he officiated the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project as the Prime Minister then in 1996. Today, he also enjoys the freedom of speech in the Internet by blogging and expressing his political points of view, which might not have chances to appear in the local media. Because of this, now people can still read his concerns and views to the nation, in the same way as we read Lim Kit Siang, Jeff Ooi, Ahirudin Attan and others.

Click here to go to the blog of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Zaptor performance voltage stabilizer Acoustic Gold III v.2008

I heard a lot about this Zaptor performance voltage stabilizer from AOCM, and have seen it installed in the Toyota Avanza of most AOCM members. It is a proven product which able to boost the performance of Toyota Avanza, and I have it installed today during the AOCM TT session. It comes with double sided tape and I sticked it on one of the leg of my Ultra Racing strut bar near the battery.



Today's car is functioned by many electrical and electronic components, the most important being the Engine Control Unit (ECU) which is a computer controlling the engine operations of the car. The ECU is highly dependent on all the sensors that provide accurate data and signals to coordinate various parts in different places of the car. This ECU can give the best judgement if and only if the signal received is accurate, which is affected by the electrical flow of the system. Therefore, a stable and powerful electrical system in the car will ensure best torque and response at all times.

The function of the voltage stabilizer is to stabilized the electrical current generated by the alternator, by storing some electrical energy in capacitors so that stable and constant electrical energy can be maintained all times even if there is voltage drop or surge across the car electrical system. It can also filter out electrical noise and eliminate irregular current flow in the car electrical system. Its working concept is similar to the Power Saver unit in my home.

Zaptor performance voltage stabilizer is developed by a member of Volvo Owners' Club of Malaysia (VOCM). The Acoustic Gold III version is waterproof, fuse protected, has voltage tolerance of up to 25 volts and operating temperature up to 105 degree Celcius. It has a compact size with a 7-colour battery status LED indicator. Most importantly, it functions in par with the branded voltage stabilizer made in Japan, and is distributed in AOCM at a much more affordable price. It is probably the lowest price voltage stabilizer product in Malaysia that can function effectively.

My feelings to the car after installation:

• engine starts immediately when ignited, there is no delay.
• engine respond faster and the fuel pedal is felt a little bit lighter. Probably this will improve in fuel economy.
• car accelerate smoother with increased torque as ECU works better.
  
• the RPM is very stable during idling, not so affected by air-cond condenser kick-in.
• cabin lights and headlights seems to be brighter.
• car audio sounds better.

I was told that the car battery water level will drop faster after the installation of this voltage stabilizer due to the charging effect. As such, using maintenance free battery is more convenient when voltage stabilizer is installed, to eliminate the need of frequent checking and top up of battery water.

The M-Shape Society

In January 2006, Dr. Kenichi Ohmae (大前研一博士), a Japanese management guru, business strategist and writer who is being described as "Mr. Strategy", has written another book named "The Impact of Rising Lower-Middle Class Population in Japan" (ロウアーミドルの冲撃) and being translated by Taiwanese to Chinese edition as "The M-Shape Society" (M 型社会). This book was published just a few months right after economist Atsushi Miura (三浦展) published the best selling "The Emergence of Lower-Class Society" (下流社会 新たな階層集団の出現).

In his book, Dr. Kenichi put up his observation that the structure of Japanese society has emerged from the existing dome shape normal distribution pattern into a twin-peak "M-shape" distribution.

The formation of this M-Shape society is resulting from the sidelining of the middle class into the lower class, while some managed to climb into the upper class. This phenomenon is formed when majority of people in the middle class gradually experienced a deterioration in their living standard.

There may be still remarkable progress in economic development, the GNP may still rise, there may still be economic growth, and the national average salary may still rise, but the rate of inflation and cost of living moves even faster, especially in the globalized world economic whereby more and more resources are gathered and secured by the upper class, while the lower class is starving from limited fund, fuel, energy, food, job, etc.

Dr. Kenichi thrown out 3 questions to the middle class:
1. Do you feel that your mortgage loan is a heavy burden (or you dare not possess any property)?
2. Are you planning to have kids (or you don't even think about getting married)?
3. Are you worried about your kids' future education fund (or you don't want to have kids)?

If you answer a "yes" to any of the 3 questions above, you might have noticed that you're sliding from the middle class towards the lower class, and if you are answering the question in the bracket, you are already in the lower class.

In fact, these questions are fairly related to my article about the HISC₅ of typical middle class person. Middle class persons are required to keep their HISC₅ to be all time well managed and in good order. Life is as if rowing a boat against the water flow, if you don't advance, you will lag behind. Unfortunately, as the worldwide competition is getting tougher and tougher, the "water flow" is getting stronger and stronger, which tear apart the people in the middle, eventually forming the M-Shape society.

One must have plan to get ready for the formation of this M-Shape society, which is evolving all over the world now. In this era of K-economy world, we must get ourselves well equipped with knowledges, skillsets, innovations and productivity at least in 2 areas, which are our career and also our financial management.